Even Asda has free wifi now.
By Koalemos
@Asylum (47893)
Manchester, England
November 24, 2012 9:27am CST
I know that free wifi has become extremely popular due to the increased custom it attracts, but I was amazed to discover that a supermarket is offering this service.
Internet and email are now common features of mobile phones so the offer of free wifi is a good attraction for many people. It has become extremely popular for cafes and bars, especially at holiday resorts because people will buy a snack or coffee in order to check their email or surf the internet, thus boosting the trade. This is great when I go abroad because I always take my laptop and never have to walk more than a couple of minutes to make good use of it.
Nevertheless, I was amazed to see free wifi at Asda because I cannot imagine anyone standing in the aisles to use the internet, they tend to go there purely for shopping. I fail to understand what benefit it could be for Asda.
2 people like this
10 responses
@GreenMoo (11834)
•
24 Nov 12
I expect Asda have wifi fitted anyway, for staff, so making it available to customers wouldn't really cost a great deal. Many Asdas have cafes too I suppose.
It does seem like an odd place to go to check your email though. If someone really needs to keep in touch with email whilst doing the weekly shop they really need to reassess priorities.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
24 Nov 12
hello GreenMoo, that is what confuses me so much. The Asda that I noticed this in does not have a café, so it would mean that they would have to surf the net while in the aisles, which is hardly very practical. I would have though that if checking their email was important then they would pay for their shopping and walk 200 yards to McDonald's were they could buy a coffee and check emails in comfort.
1 person likes this
@wolfie34 (26771)
• United Kingdom
25 Nov 12
I guess if you are standing in line queueing people will get fractious, so to take their minds of the wait they can go online whilst using their blackberries or even tablets, I wonder if health clubs and gyms will start to instal it, they have Sky television at the gym, so no reason why they can't have wifi too, although running on a treadmill whilst using the computer wouldn't be recommended LOL. Or lifting weights with one hand and surfing with the other LOL.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
25 Nov 12
I had not thought about the queues, that could be a real nightmare. It is bad enough when someone is due to pay and then strat rummaging through their handbag looking for a purse, which often occurs even though they have waited in the queue for quite a while but not bothered to be prepared.
It would be even worse if someone was being served and kept being distracted by their mobile.
1 person likes this
@Angelpink (4035)
• Philippines
24 Nov 12
Seems internet is a must for all . So good that almost all establishment offering wifi , it is a great help for all but i just can comment that sometimes the wifi of this establishment is very slow , sometimes very very slow that it won't allow to refresh our mobile. Also i have this experienced riding a big bus , and it is being posted in the bus , wifi free bus but the truth is their wifi don't function, it just for promotion of their business . Management should check this matter because al have internet related businesses , so every seconds counts .
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
24 Nov 12
The issue to me is understanding why they even bother to supply wifi. I can understand the national bus companies because it can be useful if travelling for several hours to have internet access, but it seems absurd that anyone would want to access the internet while walking around a supermarket.
1 person likes this
@olivz2012 (50)
• Philippines
25 Nov 12
I was also shocked to notice that one of buses of the Bachelor liners we rode on Sunday November 18, 2012 doing to Cagayan de Oro City was serving free wifi. Maybe it wasn't so shocking for others but for me as the first timer to notice it, I was so amaze how far this technology penetrated every fiber of our society this days. I believe time would come wifi will be available even to the streets not only in malls and supermarkets. What do you think?
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
25 Nov 12
It is certainly becoming more commonplace and does appear in the most unlikely places. I have seen wifi on bus services, usually the long distance ones so people actually have the time to make use of it and it takes away some of the boredom of travelling.
1 person likes this
@TomDawg24 (79)
• Philippines
25 Nov 12
Well, for me this is a strategy that the management of the supermarket have thought of and was being implemented. Yes it would attract more customers to come and shop and as well as bring their stuff such as laptops with them. And it is also a win-win situation for the owner, staff, and the customers. Everybody happy :) .
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
25 Nov 12
I can appreciate your point, but I cannot imagine trying to use a laptop in Asda. It is difficult trying to walk around with a basket without constantly bumping into someone.
At least if someone foes to a café they can sit down out of the way and use the internet undisturbed.
If several people start to surf the net in a supermarket then I would expect it to cause mayhem and would really be a deterrent to other shoppers.
1 person likes this
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
25 Nov 12
Yes it is amazing how many places out there offer free WiFi and I wonder how many people actually take time to utilize this. I know everywhere I go anymore there are a lot of places that now offer it. I have accessed from like Starbucks .. tully's .. McDonald's .. safeway ... The mall etc. It sure is nice especially when I am somewhere with my tablet.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
25 Nov 12
I also think it is very useful, and as I mentioned earlier it makes a serious difference when I go on holiday due to the ease of finding somewhere to use my laptop. Places like McDonald's and Starbucks will be more popular now that wifi is available there, but who goes into a supermarket to use wifi?
@drknlvly6781 (6246)
• United States
24 Nov 12
It makes more sense if you think about all the money saving apps that people use, and in some instances a store will give you a better price if you can find it cheaper elsewhere. Throw in the fact that most smartphones won't get good data reception inside larger stores and Asda has actually put themselves in the lead for traffic with adding wifi.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
24 Nov 12
Now that is a very interesting response. I know encountered the slogans by Asda for the price guarantee, and since it is laborious to visit several supermarkets and search around to check prices then giving the option of internet access suddenly makes sense.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
28 Nov 12
That sounds quite a useful idea. It was actually thinking that you were originally referring to checking the websites at several other stores in order to find out the prices for each item, which can be a rather laborious process but would work all the same. An app like that would make the job very easy and I would consider using that myself.
@drknlvly6781 (6246)
• United States
27 Nov 12
I actually hope that more grocery stores will take this idea on in the United States as well. I remember that shortly after I got my smartphone Walmart started doing a price match guarantee as well. I geared myself with several apps that actually scan the barcode of a product with your phone and shows you several local prices for it....but none of it actually did me any good, because once I got inside the Walmart I could no longer connect out to data...and they didn't have a free connection for me to use either 
@webzap (884)
• Philippines
25 Nov 12
why not in a supermart? wifi is the in-thing these days and with a small device that you have, contact with friends and relative is easier done even in the cozy corner of a supermarket. and for sure, once a wifi-crazy person is in there, she might as well find herself with a little something from the store.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
25 Nov 12
I understand what you are saying webzap and appreciate how addicted some people are to the internet, especially to social networking sites. Nevertheless there is McDonald's within a couple of hundred metres of the supermarket. Surely people would call into McDonald's and buy a coffee while they are there rather than call into Asda and buy some groceries as well. My logic obviously fails somewhere because Asda must have had a good reason for offering free wifi, but it still seems odd.
@robspeakman (1700)
•
24 Nov 12
The days are coming when access to the internet will be free - We will only pay when we want a secure connection in the future.
A little known secret is that the only thing that costs money in telecommunications is the initial infrastructure - We are paying for customer service really
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
24 Nov 12
Oh yes, I am quite inclined to agree with you about this and I also expect that free internet access will eventually be available to everyone.
The confusion for me is that I can understand McDonald's offering free wifi because it will attract custom, because I see how that would apply to Asda.
1 person likes this
